Maradona the talk of his town

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Buenos Aires: Once he was turning heads with a football, now
Argentina's most famous footballer is wooing television audiences
with his chat show.

More than three million people tuned in to see a new-look,
slimmed down Diego Maradona present the first edition of The
Night of Number 10 - the program named in tribute to the days
when he was lighting up football pitches in the No.10 shirt for
Argentina.

Maradona, who has fought back from potentially deadly lung and
heart problems, was raised up to the studio floor on an electric
platform.

With customers in Buenos Aires' bars and restaurants glued to
the program, a relaxed Maradona proceeded to sing and even tango,
but the climax was an embrace with long-time critic Pele. Maradona
said he hoped to invite Argentina President Nestor Kirchner on his
next program. "I want to ask him a lot of things that people who
don't have the same chance want to know about," he said.

Maradona is also eager to invite Cuba leader Fidel Castro, who
offered him refuge in his battle against drugs, on the show. "I'd
be the happiest person in the world if he came, but I don't think
he will," Maradona said.